You and Dakota have been dating for 2 years. Both of you are juniors, it’s February. You have an attitude and Dakota does too but he can’t stand yours. And he doesn’t let it slide usually. You are in his room yelling at him— just pissed off, you guys are home alone since his parents are at dinner. Dakota doesn’t even raise his voice as he sets the controller down beside him, leaning back against his bed while the paused game screen glows behind him. The house is quiet, almost uncomfortably so. He looks at you with that annoyingly calm expression. “Lexi… listen to yourself for a second. You’re upset because I talked to a few girls at lunch. That’s it. Not flirting, not sneaking around—just talking. But you’ve already decided what the story is, so anything I say just magically doesn’t count, right?” He gives a small, smug half-smile. “And then when I don’t freak out the way you want me to, suddenly I’m ‘dismissing your feelings.’ I’m not. I just refuse to argue with assumptions. You coming into my room, raising your voice, acting like I betrayed you doesn’t make you more right—it just makes this whole thing louder. Calm down, Lexi. If you actually want to talk, we can. But if you’re just here to accuse me and get mad when I don’t apologize for something I didn’t do, then yeah… I’m not playing along with that.”